Feature | Emma Austin Creates Chaos with Slapping, Speed, and Defense

Written by Howard Woodard

It feels like a long time coming for Emma Austin to kick things off for the Saluki softball lineup.

She is one of the fastest players in the country and has never posted an on-base percentage below .379 in a full season. The senior center fielder has developed her ability on the diamond throughout her career playing softball which began long before she came to Carbondale.

"I got into softball when I was pretty young. I grew up in a family that -- lot of baseball players, lot of softball players -- so it was just kind of in my nature to keep going with that," Austin said. "My brother, he's five years older than me, he was really big into baseball; he played college baseball, so I was that little sister that was traveling around everywhere. And so when I figured out softball was a thing for me, I just went right into it."

For the two-time All-MVC Second Team awardee, family plays a big role in her life. They push Austin to be the best version of herself, especially her father, who she says knows how to give the necessary tough love at all times.

"I think my success, a huge part of that has definitely come from my family…I know specifically, my dad, he's always just kind of known how to get the most out of me. He's always known what I needed to hear, what I needed to do. He's just really always helped me, you know, whenever I'm struggling, helped me see things in a different way that I couldn't whenever I was struggling," she said. "And so I think that's been a big part of how my game's developed as I've grown older. He's never kind of eased up. He's always expected the most out of me, and it's just pushed me to be the player I am today."

Austin's speed stands out before she puts bat to softball or even makes a running catch in the outfield. It's a quality that seems to run in her family. One of Austin's cousins ran track at the University of Kentucky. She says both of her parents are fleet of foot as well. Austin feels that another sport that she participated in as a child contributed to her outlier ability.

"I think starting in gymnastics and really just building all those general core muscles whenever I was so young, I think that really helped me," Austin said. "… I just kind of never stopped with developing the speed and finding new ways to run faster and just keep going."

Head coach Jen Sewell has been a part of the SIU softball program for 18 years and claims that there haven't been many Salukis faster than Austin.

"She is probably in the top one or two in the program that I've been around in terms of speed, and that can kind of just kill on its own," Sewell said.

For associate head coach Mary Jo Firnbach, the ability for Austin to get to her top speed so quickly is what stands out.

"Some players are really fast once they get going. She's very fast out of the box and at her initial first step, and that's something that is rare, because she's so good at that," Firnbach said.

Austin is a slapper, a left-handed hitter that uses a crossover step in the batter's box where she runs out towards the circle as the pitch is on its way to home plate. This style of hitting has come a long way for Austin, who was hitting right-handed in 10U before her father and coaches advised her to switch sides.

There are advantages and disadvantages Austin juggles as a slapper. She is moving forward at a pitch that is thrown towards her. She has to get her timing down, between starting her feet and managing how quickly she moves through the box. Austin does get a running start and therefore, added momentum, towards first base which can be lethal when compounded with her blazing speed.

But pitch recognition is imperative, as she can be out in front of off-speed pitches. It's a craft that Austin has worked hard to improve and seems to be at the peak of her powers in her senior season.

"In the college level, whenever they're constantly changing pitches, they can put it wherever they want, they can spin it however they want to. It sounds the easiest, but that's probably, definitely the biggest challenge that you face in college with slapping," she explained.

This year, Austin is hitting .363 and getting on-base at a .409 clip. 59 of her 62 hits have been singles, ranging from beautifully placed bunts to line drives slapped to the opposite side to high bouncing two-hop choppers that don't leave the infield. Austin noticed that she could dictate the situation, and certain batted balls that would just be typical ground ball outs, she turns into hits.

She has embraced the sentiment that her hitting is unorthodox, but the results speak for themselves.

"One of the first things I will tell younger girls about slapping -- when you start kind of focusing too much on making it perfect -- the first thing I will tell them is slapping is not meant to really be pretty.," Austin said. "…The whole reason that you slap and to put it on the ground is to cause chaos and to make them mess up and to get on first base… And I think definitely as I've gotten older, which I got to give that to my coach, [Firnbach], she is the one that would always tell me, 'Play a game with them, do what they're not expecting. Make them overthink it, make them mess up.'"

It's a similar message to Austin once she gets on and Firnbach, who is the Salukis' first base coach, is in her ear. Even though she is an obvious stealing threat, Austin can't just run rampant on the basepaths in attempts to steal second and third on the next two pitches thrown like she did in high school.

Catching the defense off guard on what pitch she goes on is the first step. Then Austin finishes the job by getting a good jump off the bag, utilizing her speed, and going hard into the base. Firnbach believes Austin has got the whole process down to a tee.

"Her leads are on point, like she's never late, she's never too early, she's always on time, and every umpire we deal with says that, and so she's mastered that," Firnbach said. "That's a very rare, rare thing. She's just very natural, one of the best baserunners and base stealers that I've ever coached and been around."

In her third to last regular season game as a Saluki, Austin stole the 64th base of her career. She broke the program tie with Marta Viefhaus and Jami Koss for career stolen bases and finished the weekend with 67 swipes. Austin never focused on eclipsing the record but is proud that the achievement came.

"I tried not to place as much meaning into it as most would. I tried to remember that if it's meant to be, it'll be. But definitely getting close to the line, it was definitely more of an accomplishment feeling than a weight lifted off the shoulders. Because I knew if I didn't get it, I'm still in the record books," Austin said.

She has since time to reflect on the All-Americans and Hall of Fame players who came before her and are plastered in the team's locker room.

"I'm still up with so many legends that have gone here…I didn't really realize the magnitude of that until I actually saw all the names on the list, and it's definitely given it a whole new meaning to breaking that record," she said. "And I'm just feeling very lucky to even have my name up there with them."

More experienced players have got their run as the Dawgs' lead-off hitter for the majority of Austin's collegiate career. She has always had the tools, as she was a lead-off hitter when the program was recruiting her. Austin feels her methods are different in terms of typical lead-off characteristics.

"I do enjoy leading off, you know, I like being able to get the table set for everyone…But I think with being lead off -- I just kind of go for it, and I think that's important -- I feel like whenever you start focusing on trying to see too many pitches, that's when for me personally, my success rate starts to go down. So my job for a lead-off is still just to get on and get on base, find a way and let the rest of them do their job."

Sewell says the team looks for specific attributes in the first hitter at the dish and Austin has, over time, molded into the perfect fit.

"What we like out of our lead-offs is a certain amount of discipline and a certain amount of 'you got to be able to come out and hit with two strikes, and then you got to be able to come out and be aggressive once the lineup turns over.' Personality wise, off the field, she is that person. So she can be kind of a firecracker in that sense. Yeah, we kind of go as she goes," Sewell said. "So I like that energy in the top spot. We were always grooming that. But you always want to wait for the player to have that physical maturity and that mental maturity at the D1 level to handle. 'I'm the first one to the plate, and I'm gonna set the tone.' And the minute we felt good about it, we shoved her up in the lineup."

With Austin's high on-base ability and propensity to steal bases, she makes the jobs of the ensuing batters even easier. Jackie Lis, Saluki softball's all-time home run leader, Lis knows if she finds green grass, the Dawgs' lead-off hitter will come around to score.

"A lot of times the two hole's job is to hit the lead off around the bases to get her into scoring position for the three, four holes. But the best thing about Emma Austin is she gets herself on base, and then she gets herself to the next base. So we basically get rid of having to use me as somebody to move her, and kind of lets me get the chance to get her in," Lis said.

She added, "Because you know, if she gets on, she's gonna steal the next bag, and that puts her in scoring position, all without me having to even swing the bat. And then just from there, it takes a lot of pressure off me. I'm like, 'Okay, I just have to find a hole somewhere. I just have to get this ball to drop, and she's scoring,' because she can fly, and that's not something that everyone on this team can do, me being one of them."

Having a good defensive center fielder is usually a staple for good teams. Austin checks that box with not just her speed, but with her instincts as a defender as well. She's only committed five errors across four seasons. Sewell says Austin makes it look easy and even now with defenders getting aid from technology for pitch calling and defensive positioning, it isn't entirely necessary for Austin.

"Her intuition in the outfield is second to none. I would put her in terms of what I've coached at three different places, probably the best. I mean, it's like she reacts before…" Sewell said. "And now they have the watches, you know, that tell them where pitches are going. But even then, it's like, she's already standing in that spot. You don't coach things like that. You either have it or you don't."

That pedigree and experience is especially significant this season for the Salukis, as Austin is the only returning outfielder in 2025. She credits being able to play alongside high profile players throughout her years in maroon and now cherishes, not only learning how to play with her new teammates but helping where she can.

"I've loved kind of taking on that role of being kind of like the mom…the captain of the outfield. I've loved helping them, keeping them calm in certain situations. You know, watching them grow and get more comfortable out there, helping them with certain things. It's just, it's been awesome," she said. "There's a bit of a learning curve. But you got to learn how to play with each other out there, and you got to learn, 'Who can get to what? Who has what kind of arm?' You know, you got to figure out what everyone's strengths are, and I've really enjoyed being out there and helping them with that as their game has come along."

Austin has enjoyed being in a larger leadership role in her final season for both incoming transfers and freshmen. Things got off to a rocky 1-12 start for the team, but the Dawgs have since won 30 out of 37 games and captured the Valley regular season title for the second consecutive season. Learning how to lead by example for the younger players while occasionally sprinkling in advice is something Austin has worked on balancing.

"There are so many new people…it's been so cool to see them come into the player that, you know, they were recruited to be. It's been awesome watching them just develop, and get more comfortable out there," Austin said. "There's always going to be some sort of growing pain…but I think what this season has also taught me about myself and about the situation is that you don't have to save everyone. You know, some people are just going to learn how they do and they're going to figure it out … I think I was a bit too focused on what they were doing at first, and I realized that this is helping nobody, you know, and so once it really came to me that I can do both at the same time and be present in both ways, I think that's when we all really took off. And, yeah, it's been awesome watching them turn into their roles, and hope we keep it going."

Lis is a junior but still appreciates the intangibles that Austin provides. The two are good friends, routinely messing around with each other, and the light-hearted attitude Austin has is a trait Lis values and tries to emulate.

"I feel like she just always looks very calm, you're never going to be able to tell that she's not having a good day or something. Like she's always just going to look like she's having fun out there, but she's always just never looking panicked, which sometimes, like, that's kind of how I'll get. I'll get a little stressed, like, 'Oh my god, I should have hit that ball better.' And then I'll just kind of turn around, you know, she might have done the exact same thing I did, but she's just going to be out there goofing around in the outfield, doing a little dance, and it's just like, it's really not that serious," Lis said. "And she does a really good job with, like, reminding the team, like it's just a game…so just go play, have fun, which is really important for us."

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